Shifting notions of gendered care and neoliberal motherhood: From the lives of Latvian migrant women in Guernsey

In this article I analyse how socioeconomic constraints structure the geographical mobility of Latvian migrant women working on the island of Guernsey. A shifting notion of gendered care is revealed through a time-geographic investigation of distant emplacements of workplace and home, and through the neoliberal-informed evaluations by the mothers themselves. Their justifications emphasise the belief that care from a distance should be prioritised over physical proximity to those in need of care. With examples from interviews with mothers who have provided care during their movements between Latvia and Guernsey, I demonstrate how the outcomes of shifting notions of gendered care are placed within a wider context of the gender regime in a transforming Latvia. A specific version of a neoliberal mother, shaped by gender regimes in post-socialist Latvia and a demand for female labour in Western Europe, emerges among women with care responsibilities.